The Kingdom Hospital rests on ancient marshland
where the bleaching ponds once lay.
Here the bleachers moistened their great spans of cloth.
The steam evaporating from the wet cloth
shrouded the place in permanent fog.
Centuries later the hospital was built here.
The bleachers gave way to doctors and researchers,
the best brains in the nation and the most perfect technology.
To crown their work they called the hospital The Kingdom.
Now life was to be charted, and ignorance and superstition
never to shake the bastions of science again.
Perhaps their arrogance became too pronounced,
and their persistent denial of the spiritual.
For it is as if the cold and damp have returned.
Tiny signs of fatigue are appearing in the solid, modern edifice.
No living person knows it yet, but the gateway to the Kingdom
is opening once again.
A Foreign Body
Hello! Now your car is as good as new.
l ordered the repair of my Volvo 850 GLT
and delivery to my private parking bay.
Your bay has been abolished. Danish crap.
Where are the cones that mark my parking bay?
The red plastic ones.
Pull up in front of that Golf.
Where is my parking bay? My plastic cones?
Are they yours? Yes.
l talked to the boss. Nobody has private parking bays.
Anyway it was in a stupid place. Where the ambulances pull up.
The ambulances can drive round it.
Two have had real bother. Made in Sweden. See?
Where磗 your boss? Nobody touches my cones.
You磖e in luck. What?
My boss is here today. But he磗 in conference.
Cash on the nail, please.
Sweet Jesus ... Dear God ...
Man ...
12 October, 00.35 hours. This is ambulance wagon 12.
We磖e heading down Lyngby Road towards the Kingdom ...
13 October, 00.35 hours.
This is ambulance wagon 12.
We磖e heading down Lyngby Road towards the Kingdom ...
And so on.
Cracks in the building. Practical jokes.
Of course we磛e tried to trace the calls.
Bulder has an idea of where they are coming from.
Have l?
You said you thought you knew. Excellent. Where?
Bulder doesn磘 want to falsely accuse anyone.
Couldn磘 you call him on his radio?
Next time they call in? Anything.
FOUND ... key to locker B.023 ...
This is it. Your locker, right? Yes.
Have you lost your key?
No.
That磗 lucky.
Or it wouldn磘 be a safe place to keep the youknowwhat.
l don磘. lt磗 been stolen. What am l to do?
lf Bondo gets his fingers on it ... That磗 what it means!
The Key to your Head.
Whoever磗 taken it wants to meet you at lift lobby 7 in the basement.
Well, l don磘 want to meet him.
Anyway, l bet he磗 already told Bondo.
Why would he have put this up then?
Where is lift lobby 7?
Why did you say l knew?
Can磘 you see?
They must be connected with the ambulance
Hansen mentioned. That磗 where the calls come from.
At last we磍l get something out of the 78 driving lessons you had.
Fill up the tank. Tonight we磖e going for a ride!
Mummy!
We are all here today Apart from one of us
Here is ...
Hook
and Rigmor
and Judith
and ... Helmer
And ...
Helmer ...
Sorry ... You are closing your mind to all this, Stig.
Crossed arms are your body language.
Your way of saying 创Don磘 get too close创. Perhaps you磖e right.
After all, you磖e from a completely different culture.
l磎 merely trying to bring out a bit of esprit de corps in all of us.
l realise it may be hard for Helmer to join in,
Helmer, the hardest worker of us all.
Have any of you seen the Gazette this morning?
Splendid, Stig, no less.
lmpressive research. You should have submitted it
to the Lancet ... How you find the time and energy! l磎 impressed.
Perhaps Dr. Helmer could explain the drip he gave Mrs. Drusse?
lt would be nice to know the consultant磗 plans ...
What do you mean by that? l didn磘 admit Mrs. Drusse,
the entire Danish medical profession did.
l presume that the Danish medical profession has a plan.
lf not, then l have to decide. Send her to otology.
Otology? Why? There磗 no indication that she cannot hear.
lnitially, in a friendly tone of voice,
and then in a powerfully exaggerated tone of voice
l screamed at Mrs. Drusse, 创STAY lN BED, DAMN YOU!创
But she very clearly did not hear me. So send the old cow to otology.
She磗 as deaf as a post.
Now the larum of the living will be silent in this room.
l invoke a spirit.
Are you here, Mary?
l know you are here, for you have something to tell me.
lf you磖e here, Mary, reveal your presence.
l have lit a candle for you.
l have heard you crying in the lift.
Now l ask you, 创Were you locked away?创
Blow the flame if you mean yes.
Were you crying because you磀 been locked away?
No? Did you cry because your chest hurt?
No ...
But you do have a chest disease, don磘 you?
No?
Now you are confusing me.
Did you cry because someone had hurt you?
Who? Who made you cry?
Someone from your family?
Why won磘 you let me talk to Mary?
l ask the other spirit in the room to leave us.
Why don磘 you want me to talk to Mary?
Mary? Mary? Are you there?
Are you still here?
lt磗 important at present for our department
to make a positive impression. Operation Morning Breeze, etc ...
Don磘 you also feel things are running more smoothly now?
l got the pictures from the children磗 ward.
We have to seek out the positive things.
l think l磛e found a solution to Professor Bondo磗 problem.
Oh? He will be pleased, he and the rest of the brethren.
l mean, it磗 magnifikt. lsn磘 that what you people say?
Have we time to tell him?
Oh, no!
Mona!
That pompous Swede!
Your work, your results, are what he磗 written about.
lt磗 just not the done thing. Maybe in Sweden, but not here.
l磀 like to see that Mona report. l know he committed an error.
My name is mentioned in the article.
Mentioned? You keep getting cheated.
That Aage bloke cheated you, too.
He made no promises.
And he was really very nice. Want to see him?
Not specially.
l磍l keep those.
There is a time to remember, and a time to forget.
Do you feel how my tummy has grown?
Yes, enormously. Big bloke, was he?
l磛e already forgotten.
l磎 having a scan today. Want to come?
Of course.
What the hell are you doing? l made contact.
She revealed her presence.
But somebody wanted to stop her.
She said she wasn磘 ill. That磗 very odd.
Maybe she just didn磘 know.
Maybe it磗 time to talk to Professor Bondo.
What, do you know him, too? Not exactly 创know创.
l had a welldocumented relationship with his father
in 1944. lt was thoroughly reported
in the Messenger that Easter.
They didn磘 have much to write about that year.
l met his son then, a boy of very little brain.
You never told me. What became of him?
He died, and l haven磘 heard from him since.
But he was quite a bit my senior, and a real charlatan.
Where are we going? To ear, nose and throat.
Otology! Well, why not?
Have we time to drop in on Professor Bondo on the way?
No.
lmagine, l heard what sounded like a no to your mother.
l thought you loved me, but l was obviously mistaken.
Mummy, damn it!
Hello, Bondo, have you a minute? ... Helmer has an idea.
l understand ...
... that your hepatoma磗 next of kin won磘 permit an autopsy.
l know you Danes take pride in making things
as complicated as possible. Never mind that.
l have found a document that shows
that three years ago Zakariasen signed up as an organ donor.
That could be to our advantage. What do you mean?
Legally, we could transplant the liver.
Who磀 want a liver that磗 totally kaput and has a malignant tumor?
We take a terminal patient. Get consent from the next of kin
for an autopsy. Give him the liver.
When he dies, which will be soon afterwards
the liver will be ours.
You are joking ... or did you have a particular patient in mind?
This isn磘 otology! Don磘 you know your way round at all?
A joke ... if so, everything here is a joke.
The theory and argument are most interesting.
But the ethics just don磘 hold water. You磖e talking people磗 bodies.
Possibly, but we are also talking science and the common good.
l am afraid Bondo cannot put your ideas to any use.
Now, gentlemen, l have a class.
l磎 going to examine your hearing.
No need, my hearing is fine.
That磗 what we磖e going to check.
A healthy ear emits a very faint tone.
By measuring it, we can measure hearing ability.
You mean like when your ears ring?
No, this tone cannot be heard without amplification and filters.
First l磍l record the tone in your inner ear,
then amplify it and rerecord it until it磗 been isolated.
l磍l put a special microphone into your ear ...
l think l could hear the tone.
The other day l heard a little girl crying. Nobody else could.
Your hearing must be good, then.
Silly old git!
How is the Mona case proceeding? Has the CMO calmed down?
You said somebody had spilt coffee on the anaesthesia report.
That磗 typical of the Danes.
Such damned sloppiness!
How true! But what a Silly Billy l had been! lt dawned on me later
that there is always a copy in the hospital archives.
A copy? Of what?
The anaesthesia report. A carbon copy is always made.
One stays with the patient notes, the other goes into the archives.
That磗 how we do things in Denmark.
So as long as there磗 no coffee on the copy, we磖e OK.
l must requisition the copy for the CMO.
Oh, yes ... the lodge meeting tonight.
l took the liberty of saying you磀 help brighten the place up.
Since you磖e so nimblefingered. Being a brain surgeon and all that.
We must all do our bit.
You don磘 mind, do you?
No, no, no.
There will be no class today. l have something to do.
What do you want?
lt was my turn to present my report. l can磘 guarantee it磍l stick.
Now l磛e read all about the digestive tract in vain!
When will l ever need to recognise an amylase enzyme again?
When you磖e a doctor, maybe?
Professor Bondo speaking. Sorry to bother you again.
About that hepatoma patient ...
Can you send me a new blood sample?
Yes, the size we use for transplant compatibility tests.
Thanks. A.S.A.P.
Right, l磛e made the recording. Now we磍l filter it.
lf you磀 wait outside ...
Can l watch?
l suppose so.
What happens when you press the buttons?
The machine plays back and amplifies again and again.
We get closer and closer to the very faint tone until it磗 audible.
There it is. You磖e right, you磛e excellent hearing.
Can you amplify the noise in the room without that tone?
Something might be hidden in the silence.
There磗 nothing in our box, it磗 been tested again and again.
l thought l heard something. lmpossible. lt磗 soundproof.
But l thought l heard something. Really.
Could you amplify the sound from the box with nobody in it?
All right, let磗 amplify silence!
Rigmor ... lt磗 that damned report.
Moesgaard says there is a copy in the archives.
That磗 right, the copy always goes into the archives.
Did you only pour coffee over the original, and not the copy?
The copy had been removed. lt never occurred to me ...
We must requisition the copy before Moesgaard does.
That would look pretty silly.
lt磗 your fault. You are so damned lazy.
You can磘 just go into the archives.
You have to sign a receipt.
You don磘 understand. And you磛e got to understand.
lf the CMO gets that report l might as well pack my bags.
Rigmor, is that what you磖e hoping for?
Of course not, and anyway, is the report so damaging?
No ... l think ... l really think l磍l have to get it myself.
Me, a tired old man.
lf you are thinking of burgling the archives
you磖e bonkers. lt磗 impossible.
And it would hardly be a good place for you to get caught.
With your fingers in the Mona notes.
Not a sound apart from tape hiss.
What磗 that?
Why must l be killed?
No soundproofing is sufficient if one just goes on reamplifying.
lt could be from a radio downstairs.
Why must l be killed?
Voices can be thrown back and forth from wall to wall.
Or from soul to soul.
Come along, we can have a chat.
l磎 meant to be meeting someone. Come on ...
Hi, Hook. Hi. What have you got?
Some of those good eye drops. l磍l take them. Any news?
No. Apart from driverless ambulances
and little girls bleeding in the lift shafts.
What do you mean? lt磗 Bulder and his nutty mum.
Ghosts everywhere; you can tell because they磖e transparent.
Tell Mrs. Drusse if you see any, she磍l be over the moon.
Actually, l磀 heard about the little girl.
My arse!
Come in, Mogge. Ghosts at the Kingdom ...
Sounds interesting, eh? My arse!
Sit down.
l deal with everything people don磘 need.
l get rid of it.
Or l redirect it to where people do need it.
Take those eye drops. Who needs two half bottles?
l don磘 know.
They used to get binned. But l invented a system.
They磖e very special. Used as an anaesthetic.
They contain 0.4 percent cocaine.
This lamp is always on, always hot, so the cocaine precipitates out.
Good quality stuff.
You磀 be amazed how many doctors upstairs will pay for a sachet.
Recycling, Mogge. And imagination.
Take this, for example.
How many people could use one of these?
Nobody, l don磘 think.
No, like the eye drops.
On the face of it a severed head is worthless.
But suddenly it becomes of value to somebody.
To whom?
Professor Bondo, maybe? To give a student the chop?
Or a student who doesn磘 want the chop?
What do you want me to do for you?
All kinds of things, for an extended term of employment.
l put this on as a security measure.
To stop anybody running off with the surgical spirit.
But there is something you can do right away.
l need help with Helmer.
Shortly after coming here he operated on a girl called Mona.
A complaint has been lodged.
Helmer claims that a minor haemorrhage occurred.
But a minor haemorrhage doesn磘 cause total brain damage.
You were present at the operation. What really happened?
l don磘 know. l磛e no experience of operations.
All l remember is Rigmor spilling coffee over her papers.
Over the anaesthesia report? How clumsy of her.
But it磗 interesting. Know what you can do?
Get me the copy of the report from the archives.
Talk to Jensen in Technical Services, he owes me one.
We must get hold of Mary磗 notes. They磀 tell us a thing or two.
Mum, she died in 1919. Yes, but they keep the notes.
There must be an archive. lt has an alarm.
Don磘 tell me you can磘 find a way.
You managed to find the cookie jar.
l didn磘 take those cookies. Just get us into the archives.
Talk to Madsen, he must know how.
l磀 like to talk to Jensen.
He磗 in the boss磗 office.
Are you Jensen? Maybe. Why?
Hook sent me. Hook? Why?
He said you owed him one. Maybe l do. What does he want?
The code to the archives. Sorry, no can do.
Only Mrs K錱錼d has it and she磗 integrity incarnate.
But every evening at 9 we test the emergency power supply.
You once told me there was a way of getting into the archives.
Yes, but l don磘 know the code.
Only Mrs. K錱錼d has it and she磗 integrity incarnate.
But when we test the emergency power supply at 9,
the alarm is turned off and on. lt磗 an ancient system.
When the emergency supply kicks in,
the backup takes a while to come on line. You have half a minute
in which you can switch off the alarm without the code,
and open the door with a master key.
You didn磘 hear that from me. No, no.
How far gone did you say? Eleven weeks.
This baby is at least 25 weeks old.
You scanned me for some students a while ago,
and l wasn磘 pregnant then.
No, and it wasn磘 that long ago.
Anyway, he looks fine.
ls it a boy?
lt磗 a little boy!
Piled in the archives the files of yore
Everything just right
Though fore was rear and rear was fore
ln piles of massive height.
What do you mean?
A funny old thing, memory.
They cut into people磗 memories
and now they want to get into the archives.
Who?
The consultant and the old lady and the student.
The archives seem so peaceful, yet ...
Yet?
All the pain is gathered there.
Every letter is printed in blood.
What are you doing here?
l was sent to fetch something from the archives.
But nobody磗 here, so l磎 waiting.
What are you doing?
lt磗 a secret ...
... but l work for Technical Services.
Things have been disappearing from the archives recently.
There is a breach in the alarm system at about 21 .00 hours.
So l磎 keeping an eye on the archives at that time.
The archives are closed now, anyway.
l must have been sent by mistake.
Cheerio. Cheerio.
lt磗 a big place.
Where are her notes?
l didn磘 get them.
You are quite impossible.
l almost got caught.
l was trying to look natural and relaxed.
The only time you ever looked natural and relaxed was in 1972
when you tried to prove
that Easter beer was less proof than diet lager.
Apart from that one occasion you emanate chronic guilt.
Maybe you have something to do with it.
Yes, if you want something done you must do it yourself.
See you outside the archives in an hour.
First l磛e got a seance
for a group of staff.
Which staff?
Sceptical but curious representatives from the natural sciences.
You cheated!
Run along.
Hello, my friend. Come to hear about Haiti?
To hell with Haiti. l just want a cup of coffee.
l磎 afraid it磗 cold. Did l say it had to be hot?
No way. Consultants get hot coffee.
Why didn磘 you just take it? l didn磘 like to.
You磛e got a lot to learn.
A good thing you noticed someone had forgotten to lock up.
The sensor will register any movement in here.
We磍l go out, close the door and switch the alarm on.
You locked him in.
You don磘 say. Coming?
No, l磛e got to get some sleep.
This is Judith from neurosurgery. Where磗 my archive stuff got to?
l know they磖e closed, but l need that stuff tonight!
... Thanks.
Where did you get the code from? Mrs. K錱錼d, of course.
l thought she was integrity incarnate?
She is, but she is also a spiritualist.
Ah, Mrs. Drusse.
You are quivering with anticipation.
What is the consultant going to say?
But Mrs. Drusse, l have no explanation.
None!
As you should be the first to understand,
as someone who meddles with the inexplicable.
Don磘 you feel the tiniest inkling of sympathy for me?
A neurosurgeon fumbling round like a wretched halfwit?
Doesn磘 it make me just a teeny, teeny bit human?
Hey, ho ...
l wonder where they keep the oldest notes?
Stay still. l am. l磎 knackered.
l don磘 need the jabs to fall asleep.
Does the screen show what people are thinking?
lf l think about you, do my sex centres light up?
Pleasure centres, Mogge. Turn over.
OK, since l磛e sold my body to science.
You should do likewise.
l磀 put a pretty high price on it.
There you are, Duckling!
We have 42 serviettes that need folding at the lodge.
To central labs URGENT!!!!
Come in.
Hello, sorry to disturb you.
My name is Sigrid Drusse, and this is my son, Bulder.
lf l say the Messenger,
Easter edition,
what do you say?
Nothing.
Archibald and l received the blessing from the spirits in 1943.
l remember you. You were the woman of very little brain
who almost drove my father insane. What can l do for you?
lt磗 a scientific spiritualist problem.
l磛e got in touch with a girl called Mary Jensen, who died in 1919.
Could you look at her notes and tell us how she died?
She died of tuberculosis. lt says so. Cause of death: TB.
Can we be sure it磗 true? That it磗 the real cause of death?
Dissipated necrotic particles in the pulmonary tissue ...
lt doesn磘 look like TB. More like acid damage.
What磗 that?
lt occurs as a result of inhaling acid gasses or chlorine.
Did they use acid gasses to treat TB?
l磛e no idea what devilry they tried in the old days.
But l磎 glad l wasn磘 that patient.
Shall l help you, Miss?
Oh, no! What磗 wrong?
lt磗 stuck to the plate. The whole wash may be done for.
People can be done for that way, too.
We磍l have to wash them up again.
lt磍l be a long night.
And morning, too.
Where can l find a drink? Over at anaesthesia.
Can someone relieve me? Hurry, Helmer.
Those serviettes can磘 be that difficult.
You have to man the bar!
Helmer got the idea of transplanting Zakariasen磗 liver.
l didn磘 know Swedes had a sense of humour.
Zakariasen was a poor old chap. He磗 not dead, is he?
Not far from it.
He磗 been brain stem dead for over 24 hours.
He磗 going off fast. Sorry, old chap.
Don磘 worry, another hepatoma is bound to turn up in a decade or so.
This is Bondo, pathology. That compatibility test ...
Ahah.
Thanks.
May l address the lodge?
What, in the middle of the anaesthetic?
l request an acute audition. An acute audition.
My brethren! Permit me to interrupt the bacchanal absolutely acutely.
Brother Bondo wishes to address us.
Dear brethren ...
Dear lodge ...
l request immediate assistance to perform a liver transplant.
May l inquire ... who the donor is?
Svend Zakariasen, from your own department.
With a hepatoma.
And the recipient?
Me.
l have just learned that the donor and l are fully compatible.
What is he saying?
That he磍l transplant the hepatoma to himself.
The man is mad!
Stig!
Calm down! Release me.
l am going to hit him.
Brother Bondo still has the floor. l磎 going to hit him.
The only legal, ethically defensible way of obtaining the hepatoma
is a transplant into my own body. lf the tissue functions in my body
for just a few minutes it will become
my property.
We can then put my own liver back
and conclude the operation.
Have you considered even for an instant
the consequences for the medical profession?
Our credibility is at stake.
Things have come to a pretty pass if we have to expose ourselves
to personal risk!
Doctors are at the right end of the scalpel
and there they must stay!
Extraction
is no problem. Professor Ulrich can perform it
on his ward.
But the implant is another matter.
Where will that be done? ln the porter磗 toilet, for example?
Everything has been prepared. Hook has helped gain access
to the civil defence hospital located beneath the Kingdom.
lt is on full standby.
He sought help from outside the lodge?
Dr. Hook has often performed services for this lodge.
Dear brethren ...
What is your answer?
l propose we ask for guidance from the brother
on the Ethical Council. What does he say?
Cheers.
And the Medical Council?
We are operating on nothing until l have ascertained full compatibility
between myself and a gin and tonic.
Dear brethren, this bacchanal may not be quite as planned
but it seems most interesting. Off we go
to the civil defence hospital!
The ambulance will be with you in two minutes.
Two minutes.
This operation contravenes our Hippocratic oath.
There are no medical grounds for a healthy patient to run such a risk.
The lodge oath overrides anything else.
ln the lodge, lodge law applies.
The civil defence hospital isn磘 the lodge.
l磛e brought the regalia for the necessary inaugural rites.
Since this was all your idea, Helmer,
l think you should assist with the instruments.
Locus electus ...
No! They磛e spotted us!
Here磗 the material you requested from the archives.
Great. Sign here, please.
Thank you. OK.
Pull alongside, and we磍l see if we can see her.
They磖e bringing the organ.
Wait ... let me see it ...
We must administer the anaesthetic now.
lf this goes wrong, devote my body to medicine.
l want to be put into the specimen collection.
But no transplants!
Now in her grave she lies ...
Sutures.
Sutures, Helmer.
Moesgaard ... will you take over?
After a winter without surcease
The little girl磗 gone home to God ...
Now in her grave she lies at peace ...
God knows where that is, Bulder.
Where was she buried?
The organ is in place. Have we circulation?
We have circulation. Fine.
ln two minutes we will put Bondo磗 own liver back.
TetraPak ... yes.
Volvo ... yes.
Pripps Blue ... yes.
Bjrn Borg ... yes.
Hepstars ... yes.
l am here. l don磘 know how l got here.
And l ask myself what the devil l have done?
Danish scum.
Blood pressure is falling. Raise his legs.
Calcium.
Adrenaline. Quick!
We磍l have to close him up.
With a malignant tumor inside him?
Yes. You can磘 be serious.
Or he won磘 get off the table alive.
Oh, Bulder!
We must find her notes and see where she was buried.
Are you hurt? No.
There must be a receipt from the chapel.
lt may say where she was buried.
创Not to be released from chapel创.
创lnternal use创. What does that mean?
Thanks. l may well need it.
What磗 the matter? Have you seen a ghost?
lnternal use ... internal use ...
Mary!
Once again we磛e been together at the Kingdom. How did things go?
ln the shadow of the eccentric, the charming and the zany terror lurks.
Maybe that磗 the background against which man磗 wickedness is clearest.
Mrs. Drusse now has her ghost, Bondo his sarcoma.
Will their conquest bring them joy? Who knows.
Right now the objects of their desire look more like a terrible burden.
And Helmer? Well, let me put it this way ...
This napkin is created from 12 simple folds.
Compared to the countless twists and turns of the human brain,
a very simple prototype. But here is Helmer磗 version.
None too impressive, eh? The truth about our abilities
always emerges one day. A horrid thought, is it not?
My name is Lars von Trier and l wish you all a very good evening.
lf you join us again, be prepared take the Good with the Evil.
English subtitles JHS lnternational ApS